David Butler
Cahaba Riverkeeper
David Butler has served as the Cahaba Riverkeeper (Alabama, U.S.) since 2015 and was appointed Executive Director in 2025 following the retirement of founder Dr. Myra Crawford. Before his appointment as Riverkeeper, David served the organization as both a volunteer and Board Member.
David studied finance at the University of Kentucky, before moving on to work in the financial research industry in New York. After six years, David returned to the south and enrolled at the University of Alabama where he earned a Journalism degree. While studying in Tuscaloosa, David started working part-time at Alabama Small Boats in the rental program and reignited his passion for rivers. Over the next 15 years leading canoe and kayak trips along the Cahaba River, he observed many of the problems threatening the river today. One of the most frequent questions he fielded was whether it was safe to swim in the river and his inability to find an answer led him to the Waterkeeper Alliance. He has always appreciated that his work as Riverkeeper allows him to play an active role in answering that question directly.
In 2018, David earned his J.D. from the Birmingham School of Law and was admitted to the state bar later that year.
“As a recreational user of the Cahaba, I felt obligated to do something to help. I started to look for opportunities to offer my time and energy and was attracted to the Waterkeeper movement because at each organization’s core is a desire to document through scientific research and data collection the present state of the watershed they serve while advocating for protection.”
David lives in the Cahaba watershed with his wife (Susan), two children (Jacob and Allison) and their rambunctious Dalmatian Daisy.